Speaker of Egypt’s House of Representatives Ali Abel Aal has restated Egypt’s commitment to deepening its political, economic, social and cultural partnership with African countries.

Abdel Aal, who was represented by Head of the House’s African Affairs Committee Tarek Radwan, said this during the opening session of meetings of the Pan-African Parliament’s Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflict Resolution, which commenced Monday, 5th August.

The Egyptian speaker noted that Egypt insists on spearheading Africa’s “development diplomacy” in the same way it led national liberation movements across the continent during the 1950s of the past century.

He noted that Egypt has many geographical and historical affiliations in Africa, a matter which pushes it for buttressing its cooperation with its fellow African states in the face of regional and international challenges.

The speaker made it clear that one of the top priorities of Egypt during its current presidency of the African Union is to achieve economic and social development for the African peoples based on a strategy to overhaul the agricultural and manufacturing systems in the continent with a special emphasis on the pivotal role played by youths and women to realize the goals of Agenda 2063 which is the blueprint and master plan for transforming Africa into the global powerhouse of the future.

Such goals could also be realized through encouraging the private sectors and civil society so as to increase their contribution to the development programs and projects in Africa along with enhancing cooperation with international partners based on the principles of mutual respect and realizing of common interests, with an emphasis on not interfering in the internal affairs of any country, he added.

The meeting is scheduled to run for four days.